Grutness birds Shetland

 

Ringed Plover

 Ringed Plover with three chicks down at Grutness, they are so well camouflaged. Look in the middle of the photo 

A close up from the one above

It was interesting to see the parents fly onto the road and use the broken wing technique to lure me away

Often the young ones would stand very still and then ran at speed to the other side of the pool

                                  Lots of Skylark singing which is always a pleasure to listen to

Lots of Common Gull round the pool as well as terns, Lapwing, Oystercatcher and Dunlin

Its plain to see, no entry between May- July to protect nesting terns

This group stayed at least one hour, getting close to the terns and putting them off the nest which could have allowed predators to get in.

They were approached and said they had seen the signs but ignored them. This was a group up from England and should have know better. The terns need every chance to have a successful breeding year. Eventually the group came back to the car park area where it was safe to photograph the birds round the pool

Shetland Fulmar

Fulmars are the masters of the air and are in fact small albatross species.

There is a slight decrease in numbers around Shetland but they are perhaps one of the commonest seabirds on the cliffs.

If you get too close they shoot out a very smelly liquid from the tube on top of the beak, this is regurgitated food

The nests are no much to speak about, usually a hollow or small stones

They are very inquisitive coming very close to the observer and just glide around

 Hoddie crow nest near the fulmar nests

Crows, gulls and skua are always on the look out for eggs or very young birds, so its no surprise they nest so close